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After US President Donald Trump came swinging at ‘Fake News’ media and singled out CNN journalist Natasha Bertrand for her reporting on an early intel assessment of the Iran bombings, the network has responded by saying it stands “100% behind” her.

CNN was the first outlet to report on an early intelligence assessment that the US strike on Iran likely set the country’s nuclear program back only by a few months.

“We stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism and specifically her and her colleagues’ reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” the network said in a statement.

“CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence. We have extensively covered President Trump’s own deep scepticism about it.

“However, we do not believe it is reasonable to criticise CNN reporters for accurately reporting on the existence of the assessment and accurately characterising its findings, which are in the public interest.”

Earlier, Mr Trump demanded via his Truth Social account that Ms Bertrand be fired.

US President Donald Trump is still fuming over “fake” reports that suggested Iran’s nuclear facilities were not destroyed.

Taking to his Truth Social account on Wednesday evening (local time), the US President said the pilots who were involved in the mission are “very upset”.

“After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. They felt terribly!” Mr Trump wrote.

“Fortunately for them and, as usual, solely for the purpose of demeaning PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, the Fake News (Times and CNN) lied and totally misrepresented the Facts, none of which they had (because it was too soon, there were no Facts out there yet!)”

Earlier, the US President also called for CNN reporter, Natasha Bertrand, to be fired from the network and thrown out “like a dog” after reporting on the early intelligence assessment that suggested Iran’s nuclear facilities were not destroyed.

“It’s people like her who destroyed the reputation of a once great Network. Her slant was so obviously negative...FIRE NATASHA!”, he wrote on Truth Social.

The CIA claims it has obtained a body of credible intelligence that proves Iran’s nuclear facilities have been “severely damaged” by the recent US strikes.

“This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years,” Director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, said.

Mr Ratcliffe says the agency would continue to collect additional, reliably sourced information to keep appropriate decision-makers and oversight bodies fully informed.

The update comes after the White House unleashed on CNN and the New York Times for reporting on an early intelligence assessment that suggested Iran’s nuclear facilities were not destroyed.

Penny Wong has announced a wave of new sanctions on Russia over its illegal invasion of Ukraine. They target 44 individuals and entities across Russia’s defence, energy, transport, insurance, electronics and finance sectors.

Of those slapped with the sanctions, 37 face financial sanctions and travel bans and seven entities have been slapped with financial penalties.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said Australia remained “steadfast” in its support for Ukraine

“Our targeted sanctions reflect our close coordination with key NATO partners, including the UK, Canada and the European Union,” she said.

“Australia has now imposed more than 1500 sanctions in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We will continue to work with partners to disrupt Russia’s ability to fund its illegal and immoral war.”

Australia will deploy 100 soldiers and a military aircraft to Europe to help Ukraine in its war against an illegal Russian invasion.

Defence Minister Richard Marles made the pledge at the NATO summit in The Hague in the Netherlands where almost all leaders announced heightened commitments.

The plane, a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail aircraft, will be based in Poland from August and is expected to end the deployment by November.

“Australia is proud of its longstanding operational partnership with NATO,” Mr Marles said.

“The deployment of an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft will again showcase our ability to operate from Europe, alongside NATO and partners, in support of Ukraine and international peace and security.”

Australia is standing firm on defence spending targets despite European nations vowing to rapidly ratchet up expenditure under pressure from US President Donald Trump.

On the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia would decide its own spending levels to meet its own military needs.

That risks drawing a rebuke from Mr Trump, who made clear he expects allies to drastically step up to reduce their reliance on the US.

NATO countries, of which Australia is not a member, agreed to increase defence spending targets to five per cent of GDP.

However, Spain refused, prompting Mr Trump to threaten to punish the Iberian nation with a tougher trade deal.

“You know what we’re going to do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal and we’re going to make them pay twice as much,” he said.

Read the full story here.

NATO leaders have backed a big increase in military spending that US President Donald Trump had demanded, and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit in the Netherlands.

While Trump got what he wanted at the annual meeting, tailor-made for him, his NATO allies will be relieved that he committed to the military alliance’s fundamental principle of collective defence.

Mr Trump told a press conference that “we had a great victory here,” adding that he hoped that the additional funds would be spent on military hardware made in the United States.

“I’ve been asking them to go up to 5 per cent for a number of years, and they’re going up to 5 per cent, that’s a big (jump) from 2 per cent and a lot of people didn’t even pay the 2 per cent so I think that’s going to be a very big news.”

​Read the full story here.​

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says the Coalition’s new approach to emissions reduction is focused on practical outcomes rather than meeting a fixed deadline.

“It’s iterative and it’s continuous, and it will develop a plan … underpinned by two goals. That we have a stable energy grid which provides affordable and reliable power for households and businesses, and that we reduce emissions so that we’re playing our part in the global effort and the global challenge of climate change,” Ley told ABC RN on Thursday morning.

“So it’s not ending at a certain point in time. It’s not landing on a certain date. It’s an important working group, and it will reflect the wide range of views on energy policy across Australia, and it will also hold up a mirror to this government, because they’ve made big promises on energy.

“We’re going to hold them to account, and we’re going to make sure that they explain to the Australian people how they are on track to reduce the cost of electricity. We haven’t seen that so far.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says the Liberal party must do more to recruit, retain, and support women—but remains open-minded about whether quotas are the answer.

“I am agnostic on the specific methods to make it happen, but I am a zealot that it does actually happen,” Ley told ABC RN.

She explained, “Our Liberal party is a federated body, and it doesn’t have a top-down instruction method … We’ve got state divisions. Now, some state divisions might choose to implement quotas. If they do, that’s fine. If others don’t, that’s also fine.”

“What I made very clear yesterday is what is not fine is not having enough women. So as the first woman leader of our federal party, let me send the clearest possible message: we do need to do better. We’ve got to recruit better. We’ve got to retain better. We’ve got to support better.”

As the conflict in the Middle East continues to create uncertainty, thousands of Australians have registered their intention to return home from Israel and Iran.

Overnight, a group of Australians landed in Sydney after finally getting out of Tel Aviv on a RAAF jet. Another group is expected to arrive later on Thursday.

“We are providing further assisted travel. We’ve had defence assets in the region ready to go for when airspace opens up,” said Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on ABC News Breakfast.

“We had 4,000 Australians register in both Iran and Israel who have indicated they would like to come home. And so, those flights have helped with that. As airspace opens and more commercial options are available, we would expect to see more Australians coming home through those options as well.”

“We have DFAT staff assisting on the border of Azerbaijan and they will continue to be there. It is difficult. We are hoping that if the ceasefire holds, we would be able to see further options available to people. Because obviously they are the ones that are really wanting to return home as soon as possible.”